- Joined
- Jan 29, 2018
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I'm old(er). I have been a Physician Assistant for just under 10 years now, am 49 yo and served in the US Army for 21 years, my last 4.5 as a PA. I worked as a PA part to full time for much of my time after the Army. GPA ~3.2ish, sGPA 3.4ish probably (I made poor choices out of high school which is how I ended up in the Army in the first place...PA School GPA BS+MS was 3.7). I plan to take the MCAT in September and am shooting for ~515. I have over 10,000 clinical hours as a PA (no negative actions before you ask). I do not plan on applying to tier 1 schools, I am in Eastern Ky and plan on applying to mostly state schools (UKY, U Louisville, U TN, U Cincinnati, etc. so I can maybe commute and not have to move my family anytime soon (at one point we moved 6 times in 8 years for the Army in and around PA school). My questions are:
Do volunteer hours really matter to me at this point? I did some volunteering while in service but that was a while ago and I do not have record of them.
Other than exceeding my own expectations on the MCAT, is there anything else that could help my chances?
Before anyone asks "Why do you want to go to medical school at this age when you already have a career doing mostly the same thing paying very well ?"
I figured out what I want to be when I grow up a little late...I love taking care of patients...In the Army my scope and freedom of practice was large, afterwards...not so much. If my body, mind, and family would have let me stay in the Army I probably would have loved being a PA until the day I died, however tensions in the aforementioned resulted in my retiring from the Army. When in service the Physicians I worked with were phenomenal and treated me as a peer. I do understand that the knowledge and experience of even a junior physician is far above 99% of PAs due to the raw number of hours and experience they are presented with in med school and residency which is at a minimum 2-3 times longer than PA school.
I am not done, I have more to give and my financial situation allows me to make choices like this. In my opinion there is no profession more deserving of respect and admiration than that of physician, so that's why.
And TBH my pride does not like being #2 in the food chain...I want to be #1.
Thank you in advance for your opinions and recommendations.
Do volunteer hours really matter to me at this point? I did some volunteering while in service but that was a while ago and I do not have record of them.
Other than exceeding my own expectations on the MCAT, is there anything else that could help my chances?
Before anyone asks "Why do you want to go to medical school at this age when you already have a career doing mostly the same thing paying very well ?"
I figured out what I want to be when I grow up a little late...I love taking care of patients...In the Army my scope and freedom of practice was large, afterwards...not so much. If my body, mind, and family would have let me stay in the Army I probably would have loved being a PA until the day I died, however tensions in the aforementioned resulted in my retiring from the Army. When in service the Physicians I worked with were phenomenal and treated me as a peer. I do understand that the knowledge and experience of even a junior physician is far above 99% of PAs due to the raw number of hours and experience they are presented with in med school and residency which is at a minimum 2-3 times longer than PA school.
I am not done, I have more to give and my financial situation allows me to make choices like this. In my opinion there is no profession more deserving of respect and admiration than that of physician, so that's why.
And TBH my pride does not like being #2 in the food chain...I want to be #1.
Thank you in advance for your opinions and recommendations.